Customer Reviews

Diane Duane's Box of Wizardry

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Diane Duane's series "So You Want to be a Wizard" takes a little of everything you'd want in a book for young adults.

The hero and heroine of the books are likeable kids who feel like every kid does; they have problems at school, worries at home, irritating younger siblings, and they generally spend lots of time trying both to fit in and to be themselves. Despite having become wizards, however, their problems don't go away like magic: 'Nita and Kit find themselves in both physically demanding and morally challenging situations where their choices mean something to the fate of the world.

Challenging concepts like "entropy" are explained and form a critical base to the choices that must be made by Kit, Nita, and later Nita's sister Dairine. And even if they're not wizards, the reader is left with a feeling that their choices matter.

Highly recommended for both advanced younger readers and for young adults; even recommended for those who are children-at-heart, looking for some unusual stories that keep the imagination working.

Diane Duane has added to this series over the years, and as of this writing she has written seven books in this series, with an eight in the works. The scope of the books rivals Harry Potter, a much later series, in many aspects, but the mythologies and the rules are completely different.

The first three books are "So You Want to Be a Wizard," where we meet Kit (Christopher) Rodriguez and Nita (Juanita) Callahan for the first time. We learn that they were picked on by bullies and generally felt as though they were outsiders. Both discover a book that was meant for them that invited them to become wizards. Both accept and thus starts a multi-book fight against the Lone Power, who is similar to Satan.

In the second book, "Deep Wizardry," the story continues with Kit and Nita performing a ritual that dates back millenia to keep the sea floor stable in the presence of forces that could create havoc on the ocean floor.

In the third book, "High Wizardy," Nita's younger sister Dairine is discovered to be an extremely powerful wizard. It is also this book that introduces computers to the series. An introduction important to the plot of this book. This book has the most science fiction elements of any book in this series.

The quality of this series has generally been quite good. The later books include "A Wizard Abroad," "A Wizard's Dilemma," "A Wizard Alone," and "A Wizard's Holiday." If you enjoy fantasy and science fiction, and you enjoyed the Harry Potter books, I believe you will find Diane Duane's series interesting.

...this would be a perfect series to explore. Like Rowling, Duane (who doesn't write nearly enough, in my opinion--Diane, are you listening?) tells the story of youthful magic-users growing into their powers, learning as they go, and facing an ongoing threat from an insidious enemy. Her main characters, both mavericks among their kind, are well-drawn and sympathetic, and the books (and their sequels) can also be read as Christian allegory. Though usually packaged for "young adults" (which in pubspeak means kids 11 up), they are, like Harry Potter, well-written and exciting enough to appeal to grown-up readers too. Now at last the first three books in the series are again available in a popularly-priced paperback edition. Excellent modern fantasy and not to be missed.

Diane Duane's series tackles some issues of good/evil and the harder decisions that a child could have to make if she were learning about wizardry. What Duane doesn't focus on are the more mature issues of sex or emotional envolvement that children find boring or confusing.

I read the books years ago, and bought the box set for my 10-year-old niece. My niece is interested in magic and fantasy reading, and is a very strong reader, but she is still a child. These books are a challenging read with challenging concepts, but not age-inappropriate topics.